Cotton opener



June 5, 1923.

' J. T. HALL COTTON OPENER Filed Oct. 6, 1922 Patented June 5, 1923.

JAMES T. HALL. OF ALBANY, GEORGIA.

COTTON OPENER.

Application filed October 6, 1922. Serial No. 592,888. I

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Janus T. HALL, a citizen of the United States-of America, and a resident of Albany, county of Dougherty, and State of Georgia. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cotton Openers, of which the following is a full and clear specification.

This invention has relation to that wellknown type of cotton pickers .or openers employing a rotary beater, i. e., a rotary appliance carrying teeth, and a breast or grid which cooperates with the teeth of the. rotary beater to cause the cotton mass (which feed-rollers) to be loosened up and cleaned and formed into a lap which is in condition to be fed to the carding machine. My invention has for its object. to improve the grid in such manner that the cleaning operation will be more thorough and the waste of lint will be reduced to a minimum, as more fully hereinafter set forth.

In the.drawing' Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view; and

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a grid constructec in accordance with my invention; I

Fig. 3 is 'a detail perspective view of one of the grid-bars.

Referring to the drawing annexed by refcreme-characters, 5 designates the side or frame-bars of the grid, which are rigidly connected together by a comb-board at their "upper ends and at their'lower ends by a series of transverse grid-bars 7. The comb boardis curved on its face to more or less conform to the arc of movement of the beater-teeth (not shown), and itis provided with a series of pointed teeth or spikes set rigidly in the board and having their pointed ends projecting beyond the face of'tlie board and inclining against the direction of movement of the cotton. These spikes are staggered with reference to each other and they are #5 set comparatively wide apart, a desirable arrangement being about 9 spikes to the square inch. The grid-bars 7 are spaced apart to pro is fed into the machine by suitable flutedvide transverse slots for the discharge of the foreign matters lOOrtllHl from the tibers. and each bar is provided on its face with a plurality of diagonal ribs 8. V-shaped in cross-section. the ribs on each bar being inclined in opposite directions to the ribs on th adjacent bar or bars. so that the combed loosened cotton being forced down rapidly over this ribbed surface by the beater will be deflected first toward one side and then toward the other. and so on until the cotton is delivered off the lower grid-bar. That is to say, in passing rapidly over these grid-bars. the cotton takes a zigzag path and is thus loosened and shaken thoroughly to dislodge and discharge the foreign matters. such as leaves. mote, etc.

The spikes, as is obvious. cooperate with the teeth of the rotary beater to break up, loosen and comb the cotton as it comes from the feed rollers. The object in employing comparatively widely-spaced rigid spikes. inclined against the line of movement of the cotton, is to ensure a thorough combing of the cotton without clogging. I am aware that it has been proposed to preliminarily comb the ,cotton by means of a piece of carding-cloth. but this is impractical in that the carding-cloth will clog up so quickly that the machine will not be worth while. With my type of comb and opener, I have found that the machine runs indefinitely without the necessity of stopping the machine to clear the comb of clogged cotton.

I claim:

A grid for cotton openers consisting of a comb-board arranged at the entrance-end of the grid and provided with rigid pointed spikes inclined against the direction of movement of the cotton, and a grid surface below said comb-board. said grid surface consisting of a plurality of spaced grid-bars carrying on their working faces a plurality of oppositely-inclined oblique deflecting ribs.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

JAMES T. HALL. 

